INDYCAR: Hinch's rehab finish line in sight

James Hinchcliffe isn't done with his recovery process after the scary crash that brought a premature end to his season, but the finish line is in sight.

The Canadian has been through numerous surgeries and an ongoing rehabilitation process since striking the Turn 3 wall at Indianapolis on May 18. He's all but lived at Jim Leo's PitFit training center in Indianapolis to restore lost muscle mass and cardio endurance, and with his physical recuperation almost complete, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver says the hardest obstacle he's faced has been on the mental side.

"Definitely; the first day back in the gym you want to be right back where you were before the accident, so the difficult part has been the mental part and working myself up slowly to where I was," Hinchcliffe told RACER. "Managing that side has been hard, and it was also something that was new for me."

As a fit and able then-28-year-old, Hinchcliffe took pride in his physical preparation. Losing that strength and stamina while idling at home in the days and weeks that followed the crash was tough, but the experience also reinforced his determination to get back into the cockpit of an Indy car.

"Being parked for so long was also a huge motivator," he continued. "I couldn't really do anything in the beginning, and I wasn't traveling for the races or sponsor appearances, and I'd come off a stretch of being able to do nothing, bored out of my skull, and then I'd challenge myself – I'd have these new goals to get back to where I was physically, and that was completely new for me.

"It was the first time in my career dealing with something like this, and with how far I'd fallen physically. You have to motivate yourself to get on the bike, get out running, and recapture who you are."

Hinchcliffe, who turned 29 last week, says the recovery process led to one revelation about his character, at least when it comes to fighting to overcome adversity.

"I re-learned that I'm stubborn, but I think that's to be expected of anybody in that situation," he said. "It was great to see the results, though. Seeing the results of the work to get your body where it belongs was huge for me, and I'm actually surprised at how easily it came back.

"It was good to see that first little bit of success, and then that led to more success, and it continued growing from there. Your body will recover on its own, but your head isn't quite as automatic. That's where the inner fight happens."

In Hinchcliffe's absence, Ryan Briscoe took over driving duties in the No. 5 ARROW Honda for the bulk of the season. Although he was restricted from traveling to the four races that followed Indy, Hinchcliffe returned midsummer to support SPM and Briscoe.

He only completed five races in his first year with SPM before the accident, and wasn't afforded a full year to gel with the team from inside the car, but from what he saw from Toronto to Sonoma, Briscoe and the team made great progress. And with a few recent tests of his own in the No. 5, Hinchcliffe expects the team to resume its winning ways once the season starts next March in St. Petersburg.

"The fact that I was able to travel to a bunch of races from Toronto on and sit in on the debriefs, see how the decisions were made, and could be up close instead of at home the rest of the year reading reports by email helped a lot," he said.

"Furthermore, I think that Ryan's driving style is very similar to mine, so development-wise, I don't think we'll have to undo what he did to suit me. Having seen to how they got to where they got, and how quick Ryan was, we should be in a good position.

"And the other thing is I was in the car for the very first test after the season ended, so everything going from there into next season will be from me and my engineer developing all the pieces we come up with, and from Honda, so we're ready to pick up where we left off at St. Pete."